The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, new and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. No neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, < sAv >, for WIMP masses ranging from 30GeV up to 10TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to similar or equal to 4 . 10(-24) cm(3) s(-1), and similar or equal to 2.6 . 10(-23) cm(3) s(-1) for the nu(nu) over bar channel, respectively.

Fully nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic solitary waves in a collisionless dense/quantum electron-positron-ion plasma is investigated. The electrons and positrons are assumed to follow the Thomas-Fermi density distribution and the ions are described by the hydrodynamic equations. An energy balance-like equation involving a Sagdeev-type pseudo-potential is derived. Finite amplitude solutions are obtained numerically and their characteristics are discussed. The small-but finite-amplitude limit is also considered and an exact analytical solution is obtained. The present studies might be helpful to understand the excitation of nonlinear ion-acoustic solitary waves in a degenerate plasma such as in superdense white dwarfs.

By using the Thomas-Fermi electron density distribution for quantum degenerate electrons, the hydrodynamic equations for ions, and the Poisson equation, planar and nonplanar ion-acoustic solitary waves in an unmagnetized collisionless plasma are investigated. The reductive perturbation method is used to derive cylindrical and spherical Korteweg-de Vries equations. Numerical solutions of the latter are presented. The present results can be useful in understanding the features of small but finite amplitude localized ion-acoustic solitary pulses in a degenerate plasma.

The nonlinear propagation of small but finite amplitude dust ion-acoustic waves (DIAWs) in an ion-beam driven plasma consisting of Boltzmannian electrons, positive ions, and stationary negatively charged dust grains is studied by using the standard reductive perturbation technique. It is shown that there exist two critical values (γc1) and (γc2) of ion beam to ion phase velocity ratio (γ), above and below which the beam generated solitons are not possible. The effects of the parameters, namely, γ, the ratio of the ion beam to plasma ion density (μi), the dust to ion density ratio (μd), and the ion beam to plasma ion mass ratio (μ) on both the amplitude and width of the stationary DIAWs, are analyzed numerically, and applications of the results to laboratory ion beam as well as space plasmas (e.g., auroral plasmas) are explained.

We report on the temporally and spatially resolved detection of the precursory stages that lead to the formation of an unmagnetized, supercritical collisionless shock in a laser-driven laboratory experiment. The measured evolution of the electrostatic potential associated with the shock unveils the transition from a current free double layer into a symmetric shock structure, stabilized by ion reflection at the shock front. Supported by a matching particle-in-cell simulation and theoretical considerations, we suggest that this process is analogous to ion reflection at supercritical collisionless shocks in supernova remnants.

We report on the experimental observation of the instability of a plasma shell, which formed during the expansion of a laser-ablated plasma into a rarefied ambient medium. By means of a proton radiography technique, the evolution of the instability is temporally and spatially resolved on a timescale much shorter than the hydrodynamic one. The density of the thin shell exceeds that of the surrounding plasma, which lets electrons diffuse outward. An ambipolar electric field grows on both sides of the thin shell that is antiparallel to the density gradient. Ripples in the thin shell result in a spatially varying balance between the thermal pressure force mediated by this field and the ram pressure force that is exerted on it by the inflowing plasma. This mismatch amplifies the ripples by the same mechanism that drives the hydrodynamic nonlinear thin-shell instability (NTSI). Our results thus constitute the first experimental verification that the NTSI can develop in colliding flows.

Stability to the type-I edge localized mode (ELM) in JET plasmas was investigated numerically by analyzing the stability to a peeling-ballooning mode with the effects of plasma rotation and ion diamagnetic drift. The numerical analysis was performed by solving the extended Frieman-Rotenberg equation with the MINERVA-DI code. To take into account these effects in the stability analysis self-consistently, the procedure of JET equilibrium reconstruction was updated to include the profiles of ion temperature and toroidal rotation, which are determined based on the measurement data in experiments. With the new procedure and MINERVA-DI, it was identified that the stability analysis including the rotation effect can explain the ELM trigger condition in JET with ITER like wall (JET-ILW), though the stability in JET with carbon wall (JET-C) is hardly affected by rotation. The key difference is that the rotation shear in JET-ILW plasmas analyzed in this study is larger than that in JET-C ones, the shear which enhances the dynamic pressure destabilizing a peeling-ballooning mode. In addition, the increase of the toroidal mode number of the unstable MHD mode determining the ELM trigger condition is also important when the plasma density is high in JET-ILW. Though such modes with high toroidal mode number are strongly stabilized by the ion diamagnetic drift effect, it was found that plasma rotation can sometimes overcome this stabilizing effect and destabilizes the peeling-ballooning modes in JET-ILW.

The stability with respect to a peeling-ballooning mode (PBM) was investigated numerically with extended MHD simulation codes in JET, JT-60U and future JT-60SA plasmas. The MINERVA-DI code was used to analyze the linear stability, including the effects of rotation and ion diamagnetic drift (omega(*i)), in JET-ILW and JT-60SA plasmas, and the JOREK code was used to simulate nonlinear dynamics with rotation, viscosity and resistivity in JT-60U plasmas. It was validated quantitatively that the ELM trigger condition in JET-ILW plasmas can be reasonably explained by taking into account both the rotation and omega(*i) effects in the numerical analysis. When deuterium poloidal rotation is evaluated based on neoclassical theory, an increase in the effective charge of plasma destabilizes the PBM because of an acceleration of rotation and a decrease in omega(*i). The difference in the amount of ELM energy loss in JT-60U plasmas rotating in opposite directions was reproduced qualitatively with JOREK. By comparing the ELM affected areas with linear eigenfunctions, it was confirmed that the difference in the linear stability property, due not to the rotation direction but to the plasma density profile, is thought to be responsible for changing the ELM energy loss just after the ELM crash. A predictive study to determine the pedestal profiles in JT-60SA was performed by updating the EPED1 model to include the rotation and w*i effects in the PBM stability analysis. It was shown that the plasma rotation predicted with the neoclassical toroidal viscosity degrades the pedestal performance by about 10% by destabilizing the PBM, but the pressure pedestal height will be high enough to achieve the target parameters required for the ITER-like shape inductive scenario in JT-60SA.

In order to get high deposition rate and good film properties, the stabilization of the transition zone between the metallic and compound modes is beneficial. We have shown earlier that at least in some cases, HiPIMS can reduce hysteresis effect in reactive sputtering. In our previous work, mechanisms for the suppression/elimination of the hysteresis effect have been suggested. Reactive HiPIMS can suppress/eliminate the hysteresis effect in the range of optimum frequency [1] lead to the process stability during the deposition with high deposition rate. The mechanisms behind this optimum frequency may relate with high erosion rate during the pulse [2,3] and gas rarefaction effect in front of the target [4].

In this contribution, reactive sputtering process using high power impulse magnetron sputtering (HiPIMS) has been studied with focus on the gas rarefaction. Through variations in the sputtering conditions such as pulse frequencies, peak powers, and target area, their effect on the shape of current waveforms have been analyzed. The current waveforms in compound mode are strongly affected. Our experiments show that the shape and amplitude of peak current cannot be explained by the change of the secondary electron yield due to target oxidation only. Reduced rarefaction in compound mode contributes to the observed very high peak current values.

A strategy that facilitates a substantial increase of carbon ionization in magnetron sputtering discharges is presented in this work. The strategy is based on increasing the electron temperature in a high power impulse magnetron sputtering discharge by using Ne as the sputtering gas. This allows for the generation of an energetic C+ ion population and a substantial increase in the C+ ion flux as compared to a conventional Ar-HiPIMS process. A direct consequence of the ionization enhancement is demonstrated by an increase in the mass density of the grown films up to 2.8 g/cm(3); the density values achieved are substantially higher than those obtained from conventional magnetron sputtering methods.

Intense fluctuations in the electric field at high altitudes in the auroral zone are frequently measured by the Viking satellite. We have made an analysis of the origin of electric and magnetic fluctuations in the frequency range of 0.1 - 1 Hz by assuming four different sources for the signals: (I) spatial structures, (2) spatial structures with a parallel potential drop below the satellite, (3) traveling; shear Alfven waves, and (4) interfering shear Alfven waves. We will shaw that these different sources of the signals may produce similar amplitude ratios and phase differences between the perpendicular electric and magnetic fields. Since the different sources have different frequency dependencies, this can be used as an additional test if the signals are broadband. In other cases, additional information is needed, for example, satellite particle measurements or ground; magnetic measurements. The ideas presented in the theory were tested for one Viking eveningside pass over Scandinavia, where ground-based magnetometer and EISCAT radar measurements were available. The magnetic conditions were active during this pass and several interfering shear Alfven waves were found. Also, a spatial structure with a parallel potential drop below the satellite was identified. The magnitude of the 10-km-wide potential drop was at least 2 kV and the upward field-aligned current 26 mu A m(-2) (value mapped to the ionospheric level). The held-aligned conductance was estimated as 1.3 - 2.2x10(-8) S m(-2).

We present Swarm satellite and EISCAT radar observations of electrodynamical parameters in the midnight sector at high latitudes. The most striking feature is a plasma flow channel located equatorward of the polar cap boundary within the dawn convection cell. The flow channel is 1.5 degrees wide in latitude and contains southward electric field of 150 mV/m, corresponding to eastward plasma velocities of 3,300 m/s in the F-region ionosphere. The theoretically computed ion temperature enhancement produced by the observed ion velocity is in accordance with the measured one by the EISCAT radar. The total width of the auroral oval is about 10 degrees in latitude. While the poleward part is electric field dominant with low conductivity and the flow channel, the equatorward part is conductivity dominant with at least five auroral arcs. The main part of the westward electrojet flows in the conductivity dominant part, but it extends to the electric field dominant part. According to Kamide and Kokubun (1996), the whole midnight sector westward electrojet is expected to be conductivity dominant, so the studied event challenges the traditional view. The flow channel is observed after substorm onset. We suggest that the observed flow channel, which is associated with a 13-kV horizontal potential difference, accommodates increased nightside plasma flows during the substorm expansion phase as a result of reconnection in the near-Earth magnetotail.

The dynamics of the polar cap boundary and auroral oval in the nightside ionosphere are studied during late expansion and recovery of a substorm from the region between Tromsø (66.6 degree cgmLat) and Longyearbyen (75.2 degree cgmLat) on 27 February 2004 by using the coordinated EISCAT incoherent scatter radar, MIRACLE magnetometer and Cluster satellite measurements. During the late substorm expansion/early recovery phase, the polar cap boundary (PCB) made zig-zag-type motion with amplitude of 2.5 degree cgmLat and period of about 30 min near magnetic midnight. We suggest that the poleward motions of the PCB were produced by bursts of enhanced reconnection at the near-Earth neutral line (NENL). The subsequent equatorward motions of the PCB would then represent the recovery of the merging line towards the equilibrium state (Cowley and Lockwood, 1992). The observed bursts of enhanced westward electrojet just equatorward of the polar cap boundary during poleward expansions were produced plausibly by particles accelerated in the vicinity of the neutral line and thus lend evidence to the Cowley-Lockwood paradigm.

During the substorm recovery phase, the footpoints of the Cluster satellites at a geocentric distance of 4.4RE mapped in the vicinity of EISCAT measurements. Cluster data indicate that outflow of H+ and O+ ions took place within the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) as noted in some earlier studies as well. We show that in this case the PSBL corresponded to a region of enhanced electron temperature in the ionospheric F region. It is suggested that the ion outflow originates from the F region as a result of increased ambipolar diffusion. At higher altitudes, the ions could be further energized by waves, which at Cluster altitudes were observed as BBELF (broad band extra low frequency) fluctuations.

The four-satellite configuration of Cluster revealed a sudden poleward expansion of the PSBL by 2 degree during ˜ 5 min. The beginning of the poleward motion of the PCB was associated with an intensification of the downward FAC at the boundary. We suggest that the downward FAC sheet at the PCB is the high-altitude counterpart of the Earthward flowing FAC produced in the vicinity of the magnetotail neutral line by the Hall effect (Sonnerup, 1979) during a short-lived reconnection pulse.

The polar cap boundary (PCB) location and motion in the nightside ionosphere has been studied by using measurements from the EISCAT radars and the MIRACLE magnetometers during a period of four substorms on 18 February 2004. The OMNI database has been used for observations of the solar wind and the Geotail satellite for magnetospheric measurements. In addition, the event was modelled by the GUMICS-4 MHD simulation. The simulation of the PCB location was in a rather good agreement with the experimental estimates at the EISCAT longitude. During the first three substorm expansion phases, neither the local observations nor the global simulation showed any poleward motions of the PCB, even though the electrojets intensified. Rapid poleward motions of the PCB took place only in the early recovery phases of the substorms. Hence, in these cases the nightside reconnection rate was locally higher in the recovery phase than in the expansion phase.

In addition, we suggest that the IMF Bz component correlated with the nightside tail inclination angle and the PCB location with about a 17-min delay from the bow shock. By taking the delay into account, the IMF northward turnings were associated with dipolarizations of the magnetotail and poleward motions of the PCB in the recovery phase. The mechanism behind this effect should be studied further.

The 2004 tracer experiment of JET with the injection of (CH4)-C-13 into H-mode plasma at the outer divertor has been modelled with the Monte Carlo impurity transport code ERO. EDGE2D solutions for inter-ELM and ELM-peak phases were used as plasma backgrounds. Local two-dimensional (2D) deposition patterns at the vertical outer divertor target plate were obtained for comparison with post-mortem surface analyses. ERO also provides emission profiles for comparison with radially resolved spectroscopic measurements. Modelling indicates that enhanced re-erosion of deposited carbon layers is essential in explaining the amount of local deposition. Assuming negligible effective sticking of hydrocarbons, the measured local deposition of 20-34% is reproduced if re-erosion of deposits is enhanced by a factor of 2.5-7 compared to graphite erosion. If deposits are treated like the substrate, the modelled deposition is 55%. Deposition measurements at the shadowed area around injectors can be well explained by assuming negligible re-erosion but similar sticking behaviour there as on plasma-wetted surfaces.

Migration of beryllium into the divertor and deposition on tungsten in the final phase of the first ITER-like-wall campaign of JET are modelled with the 3D Monte Carlo impurity transport code ERO. The simulation covers the inner wall and the inner divertor. To generate the plasma background for Monte Carlo tracing of impurity particles, we use the EDGE2D/EIRENE code set. At the relevant regions of the wall, the estimated plasma conditions vary around T-e approximate to 5eV and n(e) 2 x 10(17) m(-3) (far-scrape-off layer; more than 10 cm away from the LCFS). We calculate impurity distributions in the plasma using the main chamber source as a free parameter in modelling and attempt to reproduce inter-ELM spectroscopic BeII line (527 nm) profiles at the divertor. The present model reproduces the level of emission close to the inner wall, but further work is needed to match also the measured emission peak values and ultimately link the modelled poloidal net deposition profiles of beryllium to post mortem data.

We present a comprehensive statistical analysis of mirror mode waves and the properties of their plasma surroundings in sheath regions driven by interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME). We have constructed a semi-automated method to identify mirror modes from the magnetic field data. We analyze 91 ICME sheath regions from January 1997 to April 2015 using data from the Wind spacecraft. The results imply that similarly to planetary magnetosheaths, mirror modes are also common structures in ICME sheaths. However, they occur almost exclusively as dip-like structures and in mirror stable plasma. We observe mirror modes throughout the sheath, from the bow shock to the ICME leading edge, but their amplitudes are largest closest to the shock. We also find that the shock strength (measured by Alfven Mach number) is the most important parameter in controlling the occurrence of mirror modes. Our findings suggest that in ICME sheaths the dominant source of free energy for mirror mode generation is the shock compression. We also suggest that mirror modes that are found deeper in the sheath are remnants from earlier times of the sheath evolution, generated also in the vicinity of the shock.

The objective of the SQUID project is to develop and in flight verify a miniature version of a wire boom deployment mechanism to be used for electric field measurements in the ionosphere. In February 2011 a small ejectable payload, built by a team of students from The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), was launched from Esrange on-board the REXUS-10 sounding rocket. The payload separated from the rocket, deployed and retracted the wire booms, landed with a parachute and was subsequently recovered. Here the design of the experiment and post fight analysis are presented.

We study ghost-free multimetric theories for (N + 1) tensor fields with a coupling to matter and maximal global symmetry group S-N x (Z(2))(N). Their mass spectra contain a massless mode, the graviton, and N massive spin-2 modes. One of the massive modes is distinct by being the heaviest, the remaining (N - 1) massive modes are simply identical copies of each other. All relevant physics can therefore be understood from the case N = 2. Focussing on this case, we compute the full perturbative action up to cubic order and derive several features that hold to all orders in perturbation theory. The lighter massive mode does not couple to matter and neither of the massive modes decay into massless gravitons. We propose the lighter massive particle as a candidate for dark matter and investigate its phenomenology in the parameter region where the matter coupling is dominated by the massless graviton. The relic density of massive spin-2 can originate from a freeze-in mechanism or from gravitational particle production, giving rise to two different dark matter scenarios. The allowed parameter regions are very different from those in scenarios with only one massive spin-2 field and more accessible to experiments.

Electron temperature profiles have been measured by the main Thomson scattering ( TS) diagnostic on the RFX-mod reversed field pinch experiment in Padova, Italy. The increased accuracy and spatial and temporal resolution permits one to measure in detail the improvements in T-e profiles, obtained with the active saddle coil system, which allows one to obtain core temperature 30% higher and scaling stronger with plasma current, steeper gradients in the core (+30%) and at the edge (+60%). 1D power balance calculations show that the active control of MHD modes largely reduces the values of electron heat diffusivity along the whole plasma radius, with similar to 50% reduction at the edge and similar to 30% in the core. The resulting electron energy confinement time is doubled. Further improvements occur during quasi-single helicity (QSH) states: the new TS allows one to study in detail the hot island that develops in the core. A characterization of the island electron thermal profile is presented, in terms of width, temperature increase, gradients and asymmetry; the effect on density profile is also discussed. A 2D transport code has been applied to calculate the heat diffusivity inside the magnetic island corresponding to the QSH state, also considering the correlation between temperature increase and pressure gradient with the chaos level around the island. Finally, electron energy confinement time during QSH states is compared with that in MH states.

We employ the test charge approach to calculate the electrostatic potential for a test charge in a multicomponent dusty plasma, whose constituents are the Boltzmann distributed electrons, mobile positive and negative ions, and immobile positive/negative charged dust particles. By using the modified dielectric constant of the dust-ion-acoustic (DIA) waves, the Debye screening and wake potentials are obtained. It is found that the presence of mobile negative ions significantly modify the DIA speed and the wake potential. The present results are relevant to polar mesosphere and microelectronic in the context of charged particle attraction and repulsion.